Announce the construction of 650 new apartments for homeless patients in the Big Apple

The homelessness problem is one of the most evident moles in the Big Apple, not only with hundreds of people sleeping on streets and trains, individuals in shelters and thousands of families facing eviction proceedings, but for patients with chronic health problems that cannot be treated effective without stable housing.

And in his eagerness to continue promoting measures that contribute to roof and other services to homeless New Yorkers, the City of New York announced the expansion of the initiative “Housing for health”, which since January 2020 has already helped more than 1000 patients and that seeks to provide permanent housing to hospital patients who do not have permanent apartments. The new plan seeks the construction of 650 new housing units.

This was revealed by the mayor of New York, Eric Adamsafter explaining that the program will focus on providing navigation services, medical rest beds, affordable housing on hospital properties, and social service support for patients in permanent housing.

To get the initiative off the ground, the City will use land from NYC Health + Hospitalswhere it will create the new homes, which will be finished in the next five years.

“It’s time to look at the full picture of New Yorkers’ health challenges and address these challenges holistically,” he said. Mayor Adams. “It is not enough to treat homeless New Yorkers in the ER and then release them homeless to recover and heal.. Homeless adults have three times as many hospital and emergency visits compared to those with stable housing. It’s time we finally broke that vicious cycle.”

Mitchell Katzpresident and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, recognized that housing is essential for people to have good health and added that the announced initiative will help patients with serious illnesses have better support.

“Patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes or hypertension cannot manage their condition without a safe and stable place to live. Too often our patients stay in the hospital much longer than they should, because they have nowhere to go and this initiative is our investment in the health of these patients outside the hospital walls,” the official said.

Jesus Cerdawho was in the City’s shelter system a couple of years ago just when he was emotionally affected, received support from the City and by moving into his own apartment, he said he managed to better manage his condition.

“I had a mental breakdown and ended up in the Psychiatric Unit of the Harlem hospital. When I was discharged, my caseworker told me that I qualified for an apartment in the T building. In July, I was finally able to move in and am happier. Now I have my own studio“said the patient. “It really is a fantastic feeling to have peace of mind, the ability to cook my own food and focus on my next steps in life.”

The City added that while the initiative provides housing and helps improve health outcomes for homeless patients, it reduces hospital and emergency care expenses. Last year NYC Health + Hospitals served about 43,500 homeless single adultswhich are the equivalent of 6% of the total 725,000 people served by the health system.